Crossfire
by SorcererTech
Summary: /Kaiketsu Zorori/ It started with an idea. A simple idea. An idea that got Zorori caught up in something far bigger than anything that he had expected. And in this battle between two forces, no matter who wins, he loses. What's a man to do?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The spring wind blew gently, flowing in and out of the small gaps between the tall blades of grass that covered the flat plain, and causing the flowers scattered across it to sway back and forth as they released their lovely aromas. The melodic chirping of birds filled the air and up above, light cotton clouds floated effortlessly through a bright blue sky. Towards the right side of the plain, a butterfly slowly made its way down to land on a dropped leaf. It stretched out its wings and settled down to relax for a moment.

A split second later a foot came down on it as a yellow fox and his companions ran as fast as they could across the field. With heavy breaths they forced their feet onwards.

"Come back here you!" A middle-aged dog dressed in shorts and a t-shirt was chasing after them, his sandals slamming down hard every time his feet touched the ground. "Give me back my wallet!" As the small group realized that the dog was still following them, they put renewed vigor into their steps, propelling themselves forwards even faster. One of the boars turned to face the masked fox beside him as he spoke between breaths.

"Man, that guy can _run_!" The second boar didn't even look as he called out in response.

"So run _faster_!" The fox's black cape fluttered behind him as he tried to keep up his speedy pace. He turned to face one of the boars as he ran, and spoke between breaths.

"Is this guy going to follow us _all _the way to the next town?" The boars looked up at him, trying to keep up as best as they could with their short legs. "I don't know Zorori-sensei," the first one said, glancing back over his shoulder at the dog when he could, "but he seems pretty determined to get his wallet back."

"I said come back here!" Zorori kept running, despite his lungs starting to hurt from keeping such a fast pace. He could see the next town now, and despite the fact that he could no longer hear the dog yelling after him, he wasn't going to stop until he got there. It was just at the bottom of a gentle hill.

"Eh, Zorori-sensei?" The fox kept running, he didn't bother to look over at the boar beside him.

"Not now Ishishi." His feet were pounding against the ground as he dashed onwards. They were almost there.

"But Sensei!"

Zorori didn't answer. It was only a few more yards before they reached the haven of the town. Putting a final sprint in, Zorori reached the entrance of the town, darting inside and quickly turning around the first corner he spotted. As he slowed down to a slow stumble, Zorori glanced over towards Ishishi. He placed his palms on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"What is it," he wheezed out between pants. The boar pointed back towards where they had turned the corner.

"That man stopped chasing us." Zorori raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Back outside the town, he stopped at the top of the hill." Zorori stood there for a moment, then went and stuck his head out around the corner so he could see. Ishishi was right. He could just see the back of the man's head as he made his way back towards the town they had previously come from. They'd actually managed to lose him. Pulling his head back around, he laughed to himself. And that meant that they were entitled to anything that was in his wallet.

Taking a step forwards, the fox twirled about and quickly changed back into his regular clothes: a loose fitting blue shirt, a pair of forest green pants, and a striped cape tied neatly around his neck. Zorori adjusted his straw hat to make sure it was comfortably on before he started taking stock of their surroundings.

They were on a rather small street, one that looked like it was meant more for walking than anything else. There were a couple big buildings here and there, but for the most part it looked like this street was filled with small shops, a few of which had wooden signs hanging from their walls to mark what they were. Even at first glance it was rather easy to tell that this wasn't the biggest town that they had found themselves in. However, as Zorori could see some bigger buildings off a little ways in the distance, it certainly wasn't the smallest either.

For the most part, small towns were a bore to the prankster. You could only ever get away with one practical joke before half the town was out looking for you. This town, however, presented opportunities, opportunities that he just had to find.

Zorori glanced over at the twins as their stomachs growled in unison. They laughed nervously as they looked up at the fox. 'First though,' he thought, 'it might be a good idea to find some food.'

"Noshishi?" The boar looked up at Zorori as he heard his name.

"Yes Sensei?"

"Get out that wallet."

"Eh, hang on." Noshishi reached down and rummaged about in his pockets for a moment or two before pulling the requested item out. "Here it is," he said, opening it. With smiles on their face, both Ishishi and Zorori both leaned forward so they could get a better look at what was inside, but their smiles vanished when they saw the entirety of it. There was nothing but two notes inside, one five hundred yen, and the other one hundred. There wasn't even a credit card.

"Six hundred yen?" Zorori asked, taking the wallet from Ishishi. "I was expecting him to have a little more than that." He sighed, pulling out the two hundred that they already had on them and adding the extra notes to the small pile in his paw. It didn't add up to much; altogether they didn't even have a thousand yen. He folded the bills in half and started to gently slide them into his pocket.

"Sensei?" The fox paused as he looked over at the boar who had addressed him. Ishishi was pulling another slip of paper out of the wallet.

"There's a coupon in here." The coupon was a colorful array of primary colors, donning a bright red border, a yellow background with a picture of ramen drawn on it in blue. Beneath it it read "Jack's Ramen Shop: The best ramen around is only a short walk away." It was a coupon for one free meal. Zorori took it from the boar and flipped it over, looking at the backside. It listed a single address, city and all. Zorori stopped as he looked over it, then headed back towards the road they had first run in on. What town _were _they in anyways?

As he glanced around the corner, a small sign posted outside the town caught his attention.

"Welcome to Halden, The Town that Makes you Feel at Home."

Zorori grinned. "Ishishi, Noshishi, follow me." Adjusting his hat to keep the sun out of his eyes, he started off down the alleyway, not waiting for a response. "Looks like we've got a ticket to some free food."

The twins found their mouths watering as they heard this. Free food? It sounded too good to be true. The only time anything like this ever happened was when they stole it from someone. They looked at each other, marveling.

"What kind of food do you think it'll be?" Ishishi licked his lips as started thinking about it. His brother did the same as he responded.

"Well," Noshishi said, "I don't know, but I hope it's something good, like a nice juicy hamburger." An image of a thoroughly decked out burger made its way into the boar's mind.

"Yeah," Ishishi said, "or maybe some Onigri..." He giggled a little as he started to fantasize about different types of food. Both of them occupied with various food related thoughts, both were rather quiet for the remainder of the trip there, save for the sound of one of them giggling in delight every now and then.

Within a couple of minutes Zorori was looking left and right, trying to find the the shop, having found the street after asking around a little. The fox began to pull out the coupon to make sure that he had the name of the shop correct. "It was Jack's Ramen, right?" Raising his eyes from the logo on the coupon, his eyes fell upon a sign for the shop hanging from a post on the left side of the street. The shop was towards the center of the block. Quickly crossing the street, the three of them made their way into the shop, immediately greeted by a cheering looking sign hanging from the ceiling that read 'Welcome.' Despite the warm greeting though, the place was quiet, looking almost deserted; not even the lights were on, despite the fact that all the chairs were down.

Zorori took a couple steps forwards, looking around. "Hello?" he called out, making his way towards the front. "Is anyone here?" He stopped as he reached the counter, resting his elbow on the wooden countertop as he waited for a response. The sound of his fingers tapping was the only noise in the restaurant as they waited for the next couple of minutes. When there was still no response, the fox sighed. "Come on you two," he said, motioning for the two boars to follow him, "looks like there's no one here."

Zorori paused as he went to exit the shop. There was something in the air...a smell. The twins mouths started watering as they inhaled deeply. "Gyoza..." they said in unison. Without a second word the two of them catapulted themselves over the counter and ran into the kitchen in the back. "Hey," Zorori called after them as he climbed over the counter, "wait for me!" He heard them stumble to a halt as he stepped down on the other side and ran towards the kitchen. When he reached the doorway, he saw exactly why. There were pots filled with all sorts of cooking goodies including teryaki, onigri, and the wonderful gyoza they had first smelled in the front of the shop. It had been a while since the trio had had a decent meal, and it was immediately apparent that they had stumbled across a personal little heaven. The three of them started scrambling to eat as much as they could, tipping over empty pots and pans as they got at the food and making an overall racket.

"Hey!"

Zorori froze in the middle of shoving a dumpling in his mouth. Turning around he saw a large pig wearing an apron and holding a ladle. He was big enough that he was practically hulking, and his girth looked rather intimidating in the kitchen doorway. "What do you think you're doing?" The boar twins drew their heads out of a pot of ramen, faces covered in noodles. Zorori slowly finished off the dumpling, not taking his eyes off the pig.

"Oh, um, sorry about that," Noshishi began. "Don't worry though, we have a coupon." Zorori quickly scolded the boar with a sharp kick to the back. He gave him a glare to finish getting the point across. Clearing his throat, the fox turned to the pig and started talking.

"Sorry sir, but it's been days since we've last eaten, and we were just so hungry that when we smelled the food in the back, we just couldn't help ourselves." The pig glared at him, giving him a mistrusting look.

"Is that so?" He scratched his chin as he looked them over.

"Oh," Noshishi butted in again, "and we also had a coupon." Zorori turned to glare at the boar again, but was interrupted by a question from the pig.

"Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" The fox stopped and gave the pig an odd look. What kind of question was that in this situation?

"Why do you ask?" The pig took a step forwards, reaching for a nearby overturned stool. Standing it up, he sat down before answering.

"Because," he said, "I've come across folks like you before, and you almost never have a proper place to stay." He leaned over, hand on his knee. "So, is that the case with you guys too?" It took Zorori a moment to realize that he might be offering them room and board, but as soon as he did his paw flew to the back of his head as he smiled nervously.

"Y-yes..." he managed to stutter out, "Yes it is..." His smile widened as he let out a small bout of nervous laughter. He could almost feel his confidence shrinking in the presence of this huge man. He paused as the pig let out a hearty laugh and slapped him on the back, causing him to cough a little.

"Well then you're in luck. I may only advertise myself as a ramen shop, but I run a cozy little inn upstairs for travelers and characters like yourselves. You're free to stay here free of charge for the next couple of days if you wish." He turned around to look back towards the doorway. "So, what d'ya say?"

Zorori knelt down, making his way over to the twins. Up close it was easy to tell that he wasn't exactly comfortable around this guy. His eyes shifted over to the twins as he spoke. "Why don't we get out of here." He glanced back at the pig for a moment. "I'm sort of afraid of having my back broken."

The twins put on their puppy eyes as they looked up at the fox. "But Sensei," Noshishi said, "think of all the free food that we'd be missing out on." He stuck his hand into a nearby pot, dunking it in soup and pulling it out so he could lick it off. Ishishi quickly nodded in agreement.

At the thought of free food alongside the boarding, Zorori's face lit up. He licked his lips at the thought, getting the aftertaste of the dumpling as he did. Free food would be absolutely wonderful. If he was letting them stay for free, he'd probably let them eat as much as they wanted alongside that.

Zorori turned around, a genuine smile on his face as he approached the man. The pig held his hand out as the fox neared him. "Well," he asked, "is it a yes, or a no?" Zorori quickly grabbed his hand and shook vigorously.

"Of course it's a yes!" He couldn't help grinning as he spoke. The pig laughed again and shook Zorori's paw hard enough to shake his entire body up and down, causing his hat to fling itself off to the side of his head and his cape to fall to the ground. The pig patted Zorori's paw as he let go of it, leaving him to stagger backwards into the open arms of his followers as he tried to recover.

"Glad to hear it son. What's your name?" Zorori took a moment to gather himself before responding, fixing his hat as he did. "Uh, Zorori," he said, picking up his cape and dusting it off. "And this is Ishishi and Noshishi." He started putting his cape back on as the pig put his hand on his shoulder.

"Nice to meet you Zorori," he said, grinning. "The name's Jack, head chef and owner of Jack's Ramen Shop." He turned around, wandering back to the doorway. Stopping, he leaned against it with his arm out, and turned back to look at the group over his shoulder. "Why don't you get your stuff together and I'll show you where you'll be staying."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Well, here it is." Jack turned the knob and opened the door, pushing it inwards to reveal a nice, small, cozy room. It was a little smaller than an average hotel room, but that was just fine with the fox, despite the fact that it was a little dusty. The two beds were well laid out and close to the ground, their long side up against the room's right wall, and they reminded him more of the kind that you would see in someone's home as opposed to at an inn. Each one had an ocean blue blanket spread across them, and a pair of light blue pillows at the top of them. In the far left corner of the room a small TV sat on a wooden table, which stretched out further to make room for several drawers beneath it.

It seemed like a typical inn room, but it was still cozy, and to Zorori, that was what mattered. As the three of them made their way inside, Zorori turned to face the pig. "Thanks," he said with a small smile.

"Not a problem," Jack said, grinning. Zorori glanced over at Ishishi, who was busy opening and closing the drawers to see if there was anything in them, and then over to Noshishi, who had already settled down on one of the beds. "Most of the time these three rooms upstairs are empty, so its good to finally have a few of them filled."

Zorori raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Jack. The pig was leaning heavily on the doorway. "There are others here?"

Jack couldn't help grinning at the question. "Yeah." He stuck his head out the doorway as he spoke, glancing down the hall. "There's another character staying in one of the rooms across from yours. Traveling type, you know?" He brought his head back inside the room as he straightened up and looked over Zorori's shoulder at the two twins, who were making their way back to the fox's side. "Says he's some kind of magician. Seems a little odd to me, but I'm not one to let a traveler go without shelter."

Making his way out the door, the pig turned the corner at the end of the short hall and started making his way down the stairs. "Make yourselves at home. I'll be downstairs working on the food." Zorori stuck his head out the doorway and watched for a few moments as Jack disappeared from sight. Pulling his head inside, he noticed Noshishi standing there with a look of wonder on his face.

"A magician?" He let out a cheerful laugh. "I wonder what sorts of magic he can show us!" The boar darted towards the door, but was held back by Zorori as he grabbed Noshishi by the back of his vest. As the fox pulled him back into the room, he looked down at the boar.

"If you're looking for magic, you might want to stay away from that guy." Noshishi turned to look up at Zorori.

"Huh?" A questioning look crossed his face. "But why? He's a magician, isn't he?"

Zorori nodded. "Yes, he's a magician, and that's exactly why you shouldn't expect magic from him." Zorori let his feet carry him into the middle of the room as he started to explain, turning his head to look back at the two boars who were standing together near the doorway. "You see, magicians don't actually know magic. They use different illusionary tricks to fool people into believing that they're actually magic." The fox laid down on the bed towards the end of the room. "If you're heading to him in hopes of something real, you're only going to be disappointed."

"But Sensei," Ishishi asked, "does that mean that magic doesn't exist?"

Zorori stretched out on the bed, letting out a small yawn, and getting comfortable before rolling over to face the twins. "No, it doesn't mean that. I've never seen it myself, but I'm almost certain that magic exists."

Ishishi made his way up to the side of the bed that Zorori was on. "Do you think we'll ever get to see some?" he asked, placing his hands on the bedspread.

"Well," the fox said, propping himself up on his shoulder, "we'd be lucky if we did. And we'd be even more lucky if we ever got the chance to use it." Zorori sat up, letting his legs hang over the edge of the bed for a moment, and keeping his eyes on Ishishi. "But enough about something we know nothing about." He grinned, a hint of mischievousness creeping into his voice. "Why don't we go and give this town a warm welcome?" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a half full can of spraypaint, and almost immediately the twins' faces lit up. "Come on you two," he said, standing up. And without another word, the grinning trio made their way out the door, shutting it behind them.

* * *

The sound of footsteps sounded thin against that of the streets around them. The trio was making their way down a small stairwell, built between buildings, and which was narrow enough that not too many people used it; the iron rail running down its side really didn't help. Zorori stopped at the bottom, lifting up his straw hat a little so he could see a little better. He stuck his head out so he could take a look.

They were somewhere near the middle of the town; it was easy enough to tell by the fact that unlike many of the other streets in the town, there seemed to be a steady stream of traffic on them. To Zorori's right, there was a paperboy selling papers on the street, calling out to the passing people about the latest news and adding to the noise of the area. He was doing his business at the corner of the street, a ways away from where the trio was currently hiding. Across from them there was a restaurant sporting a rather nice fountain out front. It looked to be a local restaurant judging by its size, and considering how big the surrounding buildings were, it had probably been here for a while.

Zorori grinned as he spotted it, the perfect idea making its way into his head. Zorori turned around to face the two boars. "Ishishi," he said, "I want you to collect some rocks. Make sure that they're small, round, and all about the same size." As Ishishi went off to follow the fox's instructions, he turned to face the other boar brother. "Noshishi, quickly, find me a piece of paper, like a poster or something." Noshishi nodded and within a couple seconds had returned with flier for some sort of local event happening today. Zorori ignored the specifics and turned the paper over, revealing a blank back. The fox smiled. This was perfect. As Ishishi returned with the rocks, Zorori held his paw out to him, taking the rocks and placing them in a small pile at his side. "Ishishi," he said, holding it out again, "do you have something for me to write with?"

The boar stuck his tongue out as he thought about it. "Hmm," he said, sticking his hand into his pockets, "hang on." He shuffled about for a minute or two before pulling out a pencil with a triumphant look on his face. He handed it to the fox without a second thought. The fox put the pencil to the paper and started writing, only to notice a couple seconds later that nothing was showing up. Glancing at the pencil for a moment, he paused, his ears twitching.

"Uh, Ishishi?"

"Yes?"

"...This pencil has a broken tip..." Ishishi just stood there for a moment before his eyes drifted to the ground.

"Oh..." he said, awkwardly shuffling his feet. Zorori sighed, then turned to face the boar.

"Do you have pencil sharpener?" Ishishi started shuffling through his pockets. It was a moment before a look of realization struck Noshishi, and he quickly pulled one out.

"I have one!" he said 'as-a-matter-of-factly.' Zorori gave him an blank look as he took the sharpener from the boar.

"...Do you _always_ carry around a pencil sharpener?" Noshishi looked at him for a moment before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"N-no, I just found it back in our room at Jack's place..." Zorori looked at him for a second or two before giving a weak shrug and turning back around to sharpen the pencil. Somehow, this conversation just wasn't worth continuing.

"Noshishi," he said, changing the subject, "I want you to go and snag me a small bowl, okay?" The boar nodded, and Zorori watched him as he hurried off up the stairs again, back towards the alleyway they had come by.

As soon as the boar had gone, he put the pencil back down on the paper and started writing, quickly spelling out a sign that read "Free Samples." He put it down, placing a small rock over it to keep it from blowing away, then pulled out the can of spray paint he had on him and carefully, one by one, began painting the rocks. It didn't take long for him to finish his work, and within a couple of minutes he had sitting beside him a pile of rocks, which now looked authentically like onigri. He couldn't help letting a wide grin cross his face as Noshishi made his way back over to him holding the bowl he had asked for.

It was a ceramic bowl, painted green. By the looks of it Noshishi had probably taken it off of someone's windowsill, seeing as it had the smell of onigri clinging to it, and the boar had some rice sticking to the edges of his face. Zorori grinned as he piled the newly made 'onigri' into the bowl; the smell would only help with their little prank. The fox stood up, and began gingerly making his way across the street. As quietly as he could, Zorori pinned up the small sign they had made, and placed the bowl out on a table sitting next to the entrance of the restaurant, then made his way over to a small gap between the restaurant and the building next to it. The twins quickly joined him, and then sat there in the shadows, watching and waiting for the first person to fall victim to their prank.

It wasn't long before a rabbit, a man somewhere in his mid-thirties, began making his way towards the entrance of the restaurant. Spotting the bowl, he picked up one of the rocks, and lifted it up to his mouth, eagerly bit down, only to be met by the cold hard surface of the stone. The fox and his companions couldn't help laughing at the pained look that crossed the rabbit's face as he sputtered and threw the fake piece of food in a nearby garbage can. It was priceless. There was no way he'd be going back there anytime soon.

The three of them stuck around for a little longer to watch a few more people fall victim to their joke before turning and making their way down the alleyway that they were hiding in, Zorori strutting proudly at the front of the group while the two brothers followed closely behind. He let out another chuckle as he thought about what they might be able to pull off next, and started picking up speed as he turned the corner at the end of the alley.

"Zorori-Sensei," Noshishi called after him, "wait up!" Zorori simply grinned at them from over his shoulder and motioned for them to catch up. He ran down the street and took a left as soon as he could, twisting and turning around corners, and looking left and right as he went, trying to find an area that would be good for their next prank. As they went on, the streets started to change from crowded and straight to more winding and empty streets. The buildings started to get smaller as they made their way onward. It looked like they had made their way into an older part of town. Ishishi tugged on Zorori's cape as he slowed down to try and get a better idea of where they were.

"Sensei," he said, panting a little as he caught his breath, "I think we're lost." Zorori grinned as he looked back at his pupil.

"Nonsense," He said, looking around at the surrounding buildings, "we're not lost." His eyes wandered from window to window as he looked for any kind of recognizable sign that they had been here before. "I know exactly where we..." There was none. "Um..." Zorori stuttered as he looked around one more time, then laughed nervously as he looked down at the twins. "Yeah...we are lost."

The twins let out simultaneous sighs of annoyance as they heard him. "Are you sure that we're lost?" Noshishi asked. "There's nothing you recognize around here?"

Zorori shook his head. "Yeah, I'm sure." He looked back towards the street they had come from, or that he thought they had come from. "I'm positive."

Noshishi sighed. "Well do you have any idea how we could find our way back?"

The fox furrowed his brow as he concentrated, sifting through the various ideas that were floating around in his head. After a moment, a smile came to his face.

"Well, I remember that this morning, when we found ourselves at Jack's, the sun was rising from our right, meaning that we were at the north end of the town," Zorori explained. "It's sometime around afternoon now, which means that if we look at where the sun is in the sky..." Both the fox and the boars turned their heads up towards the sky to look at the sun. It was sitting directly overhead. "...we should be able to figure out where we are," Zorori finished off, with significantly less enthusiasm in his voice than when he began.

The fox let out a small sigh. "Well," he said, making his way over to and leaning against one of the buildings, "looks like we won't be getting back to Jack's for a while." A look of disappointment hit the faces of the two boars, both of whom joined him in sitting against the wall. After a moment though, Noshishi's face lit up, and he started rummaging through his pockets. With a grin, he pulled a folded map out, wasting no time handing it over to Zorori. The fox looked a the map for a moment before looking over at Noshishi, who was beaming.

"Where did you get this?"

Noshishi smiled. "Oh, I found it back at Jack's, same time I found the pencil sharpener." Zorori returned the favor as he unfolded the map.

"Good job." Zorori started eyeing the map, taking in the details and trying to make out where they were. It didn't take long before Ishishi noticed something.

"Hey," he said, "over there, that bookstore." He pointed to the said store, which stood across from them, then slapped his hand down and pointed to where they were on the map. "We're right there." As Zorori had suspected before, they were in one of the older sections of downtown. By the looks of things, they could easily make their way to town square from where they were, then find their way from there. Noshishi took back the map, folding it back up and putting it back in his pocket.

"Come on," he said, motioning for the others to follow suit, "let's get going." Ishishi quickly caught up to his brother, and the two of them led the way up front, Zorori following at a short distance behind. One left, two rights, by following the map they were able to make their way there in no time.

"It should be just around the corner, "Zorori said, looking at it again. "Come on," he said, folding it back up again. The three of them rounded the corner, stopping as they saw the huge crowd that was gathered before them. It was thick enough that it was hard to even make your way through a couple people, and they were starting to fall silent. Obviously some kind of event was going on here, and whatever it was, it was about to start.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Ladies and gentleman!" A voice boomed out over the crowd, magnified by the microphone held by the speaker. Standing on a stage in the center of the square was a horse. By the way he spoke, he was obviously used to these kinds of introductions. "It is my pleasure to introduce to you..." The horse shuffled off to the left of the stage, allowing the audience a full view of the silhouette of the figure standing in the back. "Ender the Magician!" The crowd let out a cheer as the figure moved forwards, twirling about in a fanciful show as he moved into the light. Zorori couldn't help letting out a groan in response. Great, just great; they'd found themselves in front of one of biggest frauds out there.

Up on the stage, next to a covered table, there stood a squirrel, dusty red in color, his face upbeat and friendly. He wore a pale light-blue tunic, with a cross that went across the center of the front and marked a single fold of cloth that wound its way around back. A black scarf was wrapped around his shoulders, a bold yellow badge pinning it to his outfit. A pair of gray pants were being worn around his legs, just a little loosely. On his feet he wore a pair of plain blue shoes, dull in color from use; they lacked laces and seemed to hug his feet to the fullest extent, a dusty black rim marking the opening on top. Covering the rather messy fur that spouted from his head was a simple hat, black and flat, like a bowler hat without the bump in the middle; out of its left corner spouted a small white feather. He had a performer's smile on it as he took a step forwards; it seemed like he made it out of habit, one natural enough to him now that it didn't look entirely wooden.

Hmph. To Zorori he looked more like a performer than anything else, dressing up fancily to satisfy the demands of the crowd, to look out of the ordinary. All of it was just a typical ploy to please the audience.

Up on the stage, the magician cupped his paws, holding them that way for a second before letting them go, flinging one in each direction; two majestic doves flew out, spreading their wings and rising up into the sky. The crowd let out a cheer as the magician bowed. He didn't waste a moment; as soon as he was upright again, he started speaking.

"Good afternoon! It's good to see so many people turn out to my show." Several people were still clapping, but the noise was quickly dying out. After a few more seconds the audience had fallen silent, waiting for his next line. "My name is Ender." He gave a small bow to the audience's pleasure before continuing. "Like Michael over here has already told you, I am a magician. And as we all know, magicians preform magic." He took another step forwards as he walked over to the left side of the stage, making his way across to the right as he spoke. "Today I am going to show you the extraordinary." Zorori glanced down, and let out a small sigh when he say how utterly absorbed both of the twins were in the performance.

"Oh," Ishishi couldn't help squealing, "this is gonna be great!" His eyes were glued to the stage as the squirrel took another step forwards, motioning out into the audience.

"You will see things that your mind will refuse to accept, that seem to be impossible feats," he said, his hands moving about in an emphasizing way. He stopped, a small knowing smile crossing the squirrel's face as he leaned in a little. "But," he went on, "you _will_ see them." Standing up straight, the squirrel, or Ender, as the announcer had said in the beginning, made his way back to the middle of the stage. "Now then," he said, looking around, "why don't we get started."

The squirrel pulled out a piece of newspaper and folded it up into segments before looking back at the crowd. "We'll start with something simple." Picking up a pair of scissors, he went about and started cutting a simple design out of it. It didn't take long before he help up his masterpiece to the crowd, unfolding it to reveal a large but neatly cut snowflake. "I want you to take a good look at this," he said, that same knowing grin spreading over his face. "You can all see that I have cut a design out of it." He stuck his finger through one of the holes to show that they were there, then, pulling it out, started to fold up the piece of paper again. "Now watch carefully."

Zorori was pushed forwards a couple steps as several people behind him leaned forwards to get a better view. He rolled his eyes; he didn't need to see this, it was already obvious what he was going to do. Up on the stage, the squirrel had rolled up the newspaper into a cone, and was picking up a jug of water. 'Yep,' Zorori couldn't help thinking, 'of course.' The magician hesitated for a moment, smiling, before he poured the water into the cone, which quickly filled up with water. He tilted it forwards a little as gasps were let out, showing them the sunlight gleaming off the surface of the water inside. There were yet more cheers as he poured the water back into the jug, every single drop making it back.

Zorori kept his eyes on the newspaper as beside him Ishishi and Noshishi were cheering along with the crowd. To him it was obvious how the magician had done it. There was a thin film that was placed inside the newspaper when it was rolled up. The film kept any of the water from flowing out of the holes. When he placed the newspaper down on the table beside, it would unroll and look like a perfectly flat sheet of paper. The fox watched as the magician did so, and saw it unroll as such. It was so simple; he really couldn't believe that people actually fell for this stuff.

The squirrel took a step back as he began to address the crowd again. "For my next trick, I will need a volunteer."

There were shouts of "Ooooo," and "Pick me!" as soon as he had spoken. For the most part it was the children who were jumping up and down with enthusiasm, and that included the boar twins.

"He's gonna pick me," Noshishi cried as he waved his hand in the air. "He's definitely going to pick me."

"No he's not!" Ishishi said as he elbowed his brother in the chest, waving his other arm above his head. "He's going to pick me!" Noshishi quickly shoved him back as he tried to get into a better position than his brother.

"No, he's going to pick me!" Ishishi pushed him again, trying to find a spot where he knew he'd be seen. Grabbing him by the back of the vest, Noshishi turned his brother around, glaring at him.

"No, it's going to be me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"You!" Both of them froze as they heard the squirrel speak into out into the crowd. "Yes you, over there." As the two of them look up they saw the squirrel approaching a woman standing near the very front of the crowd. Taking a step forwards, he held his paw out for her, helping her up onto the stage. "Now then," Ender asked, turning towards her, "what's your name?"

The woman was a blond-haired rabbit, most likely somewhere in her twenties. She gave a polite smile before responding. "My name is Alice," she said, pushing back her hair a little. The squirrel bowed his head before talking.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Alice." He stood back up, motioning for her to follow him over to the table. Leaning over, he picked up a piece of paper. He smiled as he turned back around to face her. "Now Alice," he said, "I want you to write your name on this piece of paper, big so everyone can see it." The rabbit nodded as he handed her a sharpie, leaning over the table and quickly spelling it out in big bold letters. As she held it up for the crowd to see, it was easy to tell that she'd made something which couldn't be easily replicated. The magician smiled in return as she handed the paper to him.

Alice watched intently along with the rest of the crowd as the magician took the piece of paper and laid it down on the stage. With his left paw he pulled a box of matches out of his pocket, and without hesitation, he light one and threw it down on the paper. It didn't take long for the paper to completely burn, leaving nothing but the charred remnants. The squirrel slowly walked over to the ashes, and then, with a swift, sudden motion, stomped on them them and kicked them into the air, watching them float off the back of the stage, following the breeze. Several people gasped at this seemingly rash action.

The magician simply looked up at them and smiled though. Without a sound, he walked over to the table and picked up a cloth that was just about the same size as the paper had been. He held it out to Alice. "Now Alice," he said as she took ahold of it, "I want you to place this down where you saw me burn the paper." Alice nodded and quickly obliged, dropping the cloth in a sort of haphazard manner. The squirrel smiled before straightening it out, then making his over to stand beside the rabbit. He turned around to face the cloth, then fell silent, and held his paw out towards it. After a few moments he walked over and, after a small pause, picked up the cloth to reveal the paper, completely unscorched underneath. As the crowd let out a cheer, he held out up her name for the crowd to see.

Zorori was jostled back and forth a little as besides him Ishishi and Noshishi jumped and down in amazement. The fox let out a sigh; again, it was an illusion. Though Zorori himself wasn't exactly sure how this trick was done, he knew that it was most likely just the clever use of smoke and mirrors. These magicians were so predictable.

Up on stage, Ender turned to face Alice again as he plucked his hat from his head and placed it on the table before him, leaving some of his messy head-fur to stand up, sticking out in several directions. Zorori rolled his eyes. Really? Was this guy going to do what he thought he was?

With a grin, the squirrel took a step towards the rabbit. "Now Alice, I want you to go over and look into my hat, okay." Alice nodded and briskly made her way over to the table, looking down into the hat. "Tell the audience what you see."

"There's nothing," she said, "absolutely nothing's in the hat." The magician looked at her, his tail making a quick swish from right to left as he smiled that performer's smile of his. Zorori watched him closely. He _was _going to do it, wasn't he?

The magician nodded towards her. "Would you please take a step back, Miss Alice?" Silently, Alice made her way back over to where he was standing. Before she had stopped, Ender was already making his way over to the table. He stopped when he reached the hat, turning to face the crowd. Zorori let out an agitated sigh. Yes, he really was doing it. He was going to perform the stereotypical magic trick, pulling something out of his hat.

The trick was so simple, all that was needed was a hat with a hinged top, and a trapdoor built into the table. When he reached into the hat, he would actually be reaching down into a hidden compartment in the a table below. It wasn't magic at all, not in the least.

The magician smiled for a moment, then reached down into the hat, letting his arm go in up to his shoulder, and pretending to feel about for what he was looking for. With a clearly acted look of joyful surprise on his face, he stopped, and pulled out a box of chocolates. With a slight bow, he handed it to her. "For you, madam," he said, "to thank you for your assistance."

Zorori felt his ears twitch. Something about the way he had presented it to her just irked him. He seemed so smug to the fox, so confident. All he was was a cheap faker, nothing but a con-artist, passing off these cheap illusions and lies as something that could be called magic. Hmph! The fox let out a bit of a growl as he narrowed his eyes at the magician. They should know the truth about these 'tricks.' This cheapskate had to be taught a lesson, one way or the other.

A mischievous grin crossed his face as he turned to face the back of the crowd, pulling his straw hat down a little over his face. Luckily, he knew just how to do it...

* * *

The crowd let out a cheer as the magician changed the parrot back into his hat. Several of the enthusiastic people in the front row stood up to applaud him. The magician simply smiled. "Thank you," he said, putting away the small wooden stick he had used as a wand, "thank you." When the crowd finally settled down, he made his way to stand in front of the table. "Next, we're going to do something a little-"

"You!" Ender froze as he heard the voice. Silently, he turned to face the direction the voice had come from, the audience following closely behind. "Yes, you," he repeated as the magician's eyes fell on him, "Scam artist." The fox stepped out from behind some of the equipment that had been placed on the back left of the stage. Zorori glared at him as he stood there, channeling his anger into the look he was giving Ender. He took a step towards him as he slowly started walking towards the squirrel. "You take all of these lies of yours, and you try and pass them off as magic tricks! What is _wrong_ with you!"

Zorori stopped when he was about three meters away from the magician, letting out a bit of a growl as he talked. "You don't know any _real _magic," he said, pointing at him, "so quit trying to pass yourself off as someone who does!" A small silence followed as the magician quickly hid the look of surprise on his face.

"Zorori-Sensei!" There was a small scuffle as Ishishi and Noshishi made their way onto the stage. Ishishi came to a stop by his side, while his brother took up an ad-libbed defensive pose in front of the two. "What are you doing?" Ishishi asked in a whisper, glancing over at the fox. Zorori stayed silent for a moment, simply glaring at the squirrel.

"It's like I said Ishishi..." Zorori spoke quietly to the boar, not taking his eyes off of the magician as did. "...He's a magician, all he does is scam..." Hearing this, Noshishi paused and looked back towards the fox.

"You mean," he asked, "all of that... Everything he did wasn't real?" Zorori nodded, and Ishishi watched as his brother turned back to face the magician. "You're horrible!"

Ishishi stayed silent as he looked back at the squirrel. He could see that the surprised look on his face had been replaced by the same look of calm confidence that he had had while performing all the rest of his tricks, along side the smile.

"So," he said, taking a step forward, "you don't believe that this is real?"

Zorori frowned. He could practically feel an air of confidence around this guy. "Of course not! Why would I be fooled by such simple tricks?"

The magician held out his paw in front of him, and closed his eyes for a moment. 'What a fool,' Zorori thought as the squirrel opened them again. 'Who does he think he's kidd-'

"Uh... S-sensei?" Zorori was pulled out of his thoughts by Noshishi's voice. A small gasp was heard from the crowd as Noshishi spoke.

"Huh?" Zorori looked over at the boar, who was standing beside his brother. Both of them were simply staring at him.

"S-sensei..." Ishishi stammered out, pointing at him, "...look at your fur..." Zorori gave him an odd look in return as he turned to face him, though not the kind that either of the twins were giving him.

"Why?" he asked, puzzled by what they were getting at. "There's nothing wrong with my..." His voice trailed off as he looked down at the back of his paw. His fur was changing color. It had made a perfectly smooth transition from his usual yellow to a calm light blue, and was working its way from there to a paisley green. He looked over his shoulder to check, and sure enough, his tail was changing color as well. Zorori looked back at the boars, then over to Ender; his mouth moved, but he couldn't get any sound to come out of it.

"H-h-how are you doing that?" he finally managed to get out, although a little shakily.

"Who, me?" The magician looked about in an exaggerated manner before pointing at himself and giving a questioning look. "Why, I just used a little magic, that's all." He returned to his all too familiar smile.

Zorori looked at him for a moment before making his way off to the back of the stage to take a seat. He didn't even hear the cheer that was going up, or see the magician take a bow for this wondrous trick, he was far too preoccupied.

As he sat down, his two companions sitting down next to him, he couldn't stop thinking. 'Here's a magician who really uses magic.

'He uses real magic...'


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Woah! That was great!"

"Yeah. I wish traveling shows like that came by more often."

The chatter of the audience had peaked, and the sound of voices now filled the square. Children were talking to their parents about how they wanted to be magicians, adults were wondering just how some of those tricks had been done, and many of them were amazed by the sheer fact that it had been a thoroughly magical experience. Their thoughts about the show filled the air as they slowly made their way out of the square and onto the connected streets, each one of them with a content smile sitting on their faces. The sound of their footsteps just added to the noise being created by the chatter.

"Zorori-Sensei?" Noshishi said, leaning forwards so the fox could hear him better, "The show's over." Zorori didn't respond. He sat there with his elbows sitting on his knees, his paws propping up a rather solemn face. He'd been sitting there like that since he'd seen the magician work his magic on him, with a sort of distant look in his eyes.

"Sensei?" Ishishi hopped down of his little perch next to the fox and walked around so he was facing him. "Sensei, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Zorori shook his head a little as he stopped himself from staring off into space. His eyes fell upon the boar who was standing before him. He gave a weak smile as he looked at him. "Yeah," he said, sitting upright. "Yeah, I'm fine." He let out a small sigh as he leaned backwards, holding himself up with his paws as he looked up at the sky a little. "I was just thinking, that's all."

Noshishi tilted his head a little as he heard this. "Thinking? About what?" Zorori kept looking up at the sky.

"Well, partly about what happened..." His eyes followed a cloud as it made its way across the sky. "I guess that I just wasn't expecting something like that to happen. I never thought that a magician would ever use real magic." He looked back down at Noshishi, who was listening intently. "But he does..." There was a pause, and then a wide grin crossed his face. "Now that I've seen it, I've decided!" he said with enthusiasm in his voice. "I want to learn as much about it as I can from that magician." He gave a small fist pump to finish getting his point across.

The two boars smiled joyfully as they heard this, just as eager to learn about it as Zorori himself. Noshishi paused for a moment soon afterward though. He was pondering something.

"But Sensei," he said, looking up at him, "what are the chances that he'll teach you about it after you tried so hard to embarrass him on stage?"

Zorori paused for a moment, and thought about it. It was true, after the stunt he tried to pull, he wasn't sure how likely Ender was to agree to teaching him. Zorori stood there for a moment more before smiling a little and looking over at his companions. "Well, for me they might not be that good," he said, grinning. "However, for you guys, I'm sure he'd be much more willing."

Ishishi chuckled a little bit as he glanced back over at the magician, who was still standing on the stage and waving to the audience members left in the square.

"Be sure to get him the cute treatment guys," Zorori said as Noshishi ran over to his brother with a grin on his face.

"Come on!" he said, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him alongside him. "Let's go give it a shot."

The magician stopped waving for a moment as he watched the crowd thinning out. There weren't too many people left in the square. Only a couple solid groups were left, and most of them seemed to be having quick conversations near the edge of the square. They'd leave soon enough.

"Mr. Magician!" Hearing a voice, the squirrel turned around to see who was calling him. His eyes fell on the boars just as they ran up to him, both of them smiling and looking up to him as they spoke. "Mr. Magician," Ishishi repeated, "we want to ask you about something."

Ender looked down at them, giving them the same smile he'd given while up on stage. "And what might that be boys?"

"Well," Noshishi said, kicking at an imaginary rock on the ground, "we both really liked your show, and we're interested in magic." Ishishi nodded before continuing.

"Yes, and we were wondering if you could teach us some of it, like that awesome color-changing trick you did to Sensei!"

"Yeah," Noshishi agreed, "that was awesome!" The squirrel chuckled and gave them yet another smile. He knelt down so he could talk to them at eye level.

"Well," He said, adjusting his hat a little as he spoke, "I'll have to think about it. I don't usually take on apprentices."

"Please?" Both the boars gave him the most adorable faces they could muster, leaning in closer to him in the hopes that it would give them a better chance of getting their way. The magician fell over a little bit backwards, giving one of his faked looks of surprise as he did. Catching himself, he stood up and quickly dusted himself off.

"Well..." He put his paw on his chin, as if making a final decision."Okay." He looked back at the two of them, who were hopping up and down, happy that they'd been able to make him agree. "I'll agree to teach you, but only if you agree to follow my instructions."

"Well of course!" Noshishi said with a small laugh. Ishishi couldn't help grinning as he ran back over towards the fox, who was still sitting near the back of the stage, watching the two boars have their conversation with the squirrel.

"Sensei! Sensei," Ishishi cried as he neared Zorori, "he said yes!" Zorori grinned.

"That's good," he said, looking back over towards the magician. They'd managed to convince him to teach at least the twins. If he could convince Ender to teach him as well, or at least sit in with them, that would be all that they needed. He stood up, straightening his hat. It probably wouldn't hurt to apologize either. That would most likely improve their chances of getting what they wanted. He took a small breath, then headed over towards the squirrel. It was time to do a little bit of acting. Ender turned away from the excited Noshishi and nodded towards the fox as he approached.

"Hello sir," he said, once again wearing his wooden smile. Zorori returned the nod.

"Hey, um, Ender," Zorori started, "I wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier." Zorori paused for a moment. He found this just a little bit awkward. In a way, he wasn't entirely sure how to go about doing this; he usually wasn't one to apologize to others. It was somewhat of a pride thing.

Ender continued smiling. "Oh, that's perfectly okay. That little scene you made actually helped out a little. People thought it was all part of the show."

Zorori gave a small nod, and with a little hesitation, went on. "I didn't know you were using real magic. Most magicians, well they just pass off cheap tricks as magic, and it's a disgrace if you ask me. That's why I confronted you."

Ender raised an eyebrow. "You thought I was faking it all?" Zorori nodded.

"Yeah." Ender couldn't help letting out a laugh.

"That's understandable, and in the end, no harm done. Apology accepted." He gave his little smile again. It was a little odd to Zorori to see him constantly smiling, but as a performer, it was probably habitual by now. He gave him a smile in return.

"Right." A rise in the volume of the conversation the two boars were having caused Zorori to turn and look at them. Ender followed his gaze, and the two of them stood there watching them talk animatedly for a minute or so. "Their names are Noshishi and Ishishi," Zorori said, breaking the silence. He kept his eyes on them as he talked. "They're twins."

Ender let out a small snort of amusement. "It's not that hard to tell. They look almost identical." Zorori looked at him with a questioning look for a moment before bursting out laughing. He couldn't help himself.

"Yeah, that's true, but trust me, they really _don't_ like to be mixed up." His mind wandered back to the small quarrel they had had when the three of them had first met. They'd argued with him over the very details that separated them.

Ender turned to face him. "So, I assume you'll be joining us while I teach them?" Zorori paused, a little surprised that _he_ had been asked and not the other way around.

"O-Of course!" Zorori said after a short hesitation. "I'm just as eager to learn as those two are." He gave a quick smile to show that he meant it, though he wasn't sure how sincerely it came across as. Ender looked at him for a moment before returning the favor with his trademark smile. He held out a paw to the fox.

"Well, in that case, it's good to know you'll be joining us." He looked towards the right of the stage, where some of the left over equipment was rather haphazardly piled. "I'll see you later," he said, taking a step towards the equipment. "I have a bit of a mess to clean up right now." He glanced over his shoulder before going any further. "Why don't I meet you back here tomorrow and we can get started on all of this then." Zorori nodded. Inwardly, he was excited enough to be jumping up and down like a little boy. A little of that emotion flashed over his face for a moment before he spoke back.

"That seems like a good idea. What time should we meet?" The magician thought for a moment.

"Why don't we meet here in the morning, sometime around eleven. I can take you back to where I'm staying and we can work on it there."

Zorori gave him a curt nod. "Then I'll see you then." With one last glance in his direction, the fox made his way over to the boars.

"So," Noshishi asked, "how'd it go?" Zorori gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up, a large grin plastered over his face.

"We're in," he said, "and I'm sure you know as well as I do that our plan is to ditch him as soon as we learn what we want, right?" Ishishi couldn't help but let out a small mischievous laugh.

"So _that's_ what you were up to," he said. "I knew that you usually didn't act that nicely."

Noshishi agreed with him. "It seemed a little odd to see you paling it up with the guy." Zorori let out a small hmph or agreement. It was a little off for him. Usually he was all over getting up and in the guy's face to get what he wanted. But obtaining knowledge like this required patience. Manipulation was an art, and its rules had to be followed. Of course, that didn't mean that if they didn't get what they were looking for that they wouldn't bail out of there.

"Well," Zorori said, motioning for them to follow him, "you might as well get used to it." The three of them started walking down the brick covered street, their feet pitter-pattering on the hard surfaces beneath them. "For now, we're his pupils, and that means we'll have to do things at his pace." He adjusted his hat again to keep the sun out of his eyes. "Come on," he said, picking up the pace a little, "let's get back to Jack's. It wouldn't hurt if we tried to prepare a little."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zorori smiled as he and his two companions rounded the corner. As his eyes fell upon the familiar sign hanging above the doorway. The open sign was still there, just as it had been when they had left. Zorori turned to face the boars for a moment. "Well," Zorori said, pausing and glancing over at the boars beside him, "we finally made it back." With a sort of relieved feeling, Zorori made his way forwards and pushed open the door, the light of the sun, slowly setting in the sky, painting an elongated shadow across the floor before him..

Zorori stopped for a moment. The sound of Jack working in the kitchen reached his ears, and he could smell yet more goodies being whipped up. Right now though, he wasn't exactly hungry. The same, however, couldn't exactly be said about the two boars standing at his sides. Each of them had their noses up in the air, and were breathing in the wonderful scents of the food. After letting out a small sigh of content, the two dashed across the floor, around the counter, and into the kitchen in the back. Zorori couldn't help chuckling a little. There just wasn't keeping any food from them. With a grin on his face, the fox let his feet carry him across the restaurant floor and over to the staircase that lay wedged in the far corner of the room.

As he climbed the stairs, the fox's mind began to wander. He'd been too preoccupied on the way back with finding the right streets, and it was only now that he was thinking about the fact that they were now essentially Ender's apprentices. 'Magic, huh?' he thought with a small grin as he made his way into their room. 'I wonder what kind of stuff we'll be learning about...' An image of him in a wizards outfit entered his mind. He was busy turning Ishishi and Noshishi invisible so they could sneak into a bank and steal the money that they needed to build his castle. Shaking his head, he made a weak attempt to pull himself back to reality.

He knew that there was no sense in daydreaming just yet. He wasn't even sure if by the time they had finished their lessons with Ender, he'd be able to do anything near what he was thinking of. In that way, there was no sense in setting himself up for disappointment later. However, there really wasn't anything else that he could do. They weren't going to see Ender until tomorrow, and the only real prepping that he had to do was to convince the twins to be quiet and listen to the magician when he was talking to them. He wouldn't want to miss anything, especially if it might be of importance.

The fox sat down on his bed, and listened to the noise downstairs for a moment. He could hear Ishishi and Noshishi stumbling about in the kitchen. The faint sound of utensils clanging together could be heard through the floor beneath his feet. He let out a small sigh as he lay back on the bed, and started tracing figure-eights on an imaginary surface in the air above him, placing his other paw behind his head. It was most likely that they were busy getting ready for dinner down below, though with Ishishi and Noshishi 'helping out,' there was no saying how long it would take before it was on the table.

Before they left to go do their pranking, Zorori had posed the question to Jack as to why this place was so empty. He'd replied by explaining that that was just the way things were this season. Typically things were busier right about now, and even if he wasn't getting flooded with customers, there was at least usually a steady trickle of visitors. He was still getting that income that he needed, it was just coming from various bunches of people that seemed to be visiting the place every weekend or so.

He closed his eyes for a minute, his ears twitching a bit as he listened to the small din that was being kicked up in the kitchen beneath him. Though he could hear the voices, he couldn't tell what they were saying. All he could really tell was that both Ishishi and Noshishi were excited about _something. _There was a faint slam as the front door of the restaurant fell closed. Someone must have come inside, and based on the responses he could hear from the twins, it was most likely whomever they had been talking about. Zorori rolled over onto his side for a moment, his tail twitching a little as the tip of it slid off the edge of the bed. He untied his hat and laid it on the bed beside him before putting his head down.

The fox wondered for a moment what kind of person would end up being friends with Jack. He closed his eyes, as he thought, picturing someone rather buff roughhousing around with Jack, armwrestling and the like. The pig seemed like the kind of person who would enjoy that sort of stuff. Then again, that could just be him stereotyping due to the pig's hulking girth.

A switch flicked in his mind and he started drifting, his thoughts jumping between magic and the twins downstairs. After a few minutes, the fox let out a short snort, quickly followed by a soft snore, and Zorori drifted off into a light sleep.

* * *

The pig looked over at Ishishi, who was concentrating intently on gently stirring the contents of a boiling pot. They had been busy working on making proper nikujagi, and he couldn't help but smile. He glanced over at Noshishi who had just finished setting up the table in the dining room, back behind the kitchen. It was a pretty big table, big enough to sit a large family, despite the fact that Jack lived on his own, and the boar had been standing on the chairs so he could reach far enough across the table to put down the chopsticks and bowls. Ishishi had asked him why he had one so big when they had first seen it, and he'd responded by saying that it was for seating his guests, and the travelers who stayed with him. The pig made his way over to the boar, who looked up at him as he approached.

"Hey, Noshishi," the pig asked, "have you seen Zorori?" The boar tilted his head a little as he looked at Jack. "He disappeared soon after you guys got back. I was wondering if you knew where he was."

Noshishi put his hand on his chin and thought for a moment, then shrugged. "No, I haven't seen him. Not sure where he might be either." Ishishi stopped stirring for a moment and leaned backwards so he could get a better look at the two.

"He's most likely upstairs. I think he had some things to do, but I'm not sure." Jack nodded.

"Noshishi," he said, turning back to the other twin, "would you mind heading upstairs and getting him? We're almost ready to eat." He let out a small chuckle. "Don't want his food getting cold on him, do we now?" Noshishi nodded and leapt off the chair that he had been standing on, and after making an awkward shuffling while landing, he headed off towards the main room, and up the stairs on the far side. After rounding the corner at the top, he quickly opened the door to their room.

"Sensei?" The boar glanced about the room and his eyes quickly fell upon the limp form of the fox, sprawled out across the top of the bedspread. Making his way over to the fox, Noshishi, placed his hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. "Sensei!" The fox kept on snoring, his arms flopping around a little as the boar moved him back and forth. "Sensei!" Noshishi shook him harder.

"What do you want!" Zorori cried out, as he woke with a start. He shot up, glancing about nervously as if he expected the police to have barged in to arrest him while he was asleep. "You can't prove anything! We were invisible!" The fur on his tail was standing on its ends, and he was clutching his hat close to his chest, as if trying to protect himself. It took the fox a moment or two before he noticed Noshishi standing in front of him and he realized that he'd been dreaming. "Oh," he said, calming down, "it's you Noshishi."

"Sensei," Noshishi said, ignoring the outburst the fox had made, "Dinner's ready." He started making his way over towards the door. "You're gonna want to come down before the food gets cold." With a grin, he closed the door behind him, leaving Zorori to collect himself. The fox sat there for a moment. His thoughts swirled around in his head as he loosely went over what had happened. For a second, he thought about the dream he had been having, but quickly shrugged it off as unimportant. No, what _was_ important was the food that was being served downstairs. Placing his hat down on the bed, Zorori made his way over to the door, and headed for the stairs.

Before he had even reached the first step he could already smell the wonderful aroma of the food wafting out from the back room. Walking a little faster, he quickly made his way down the stairs, and hurried through the kitchen and into the dining room. Ishishi and Noshishi were already chowing down, and Jack was just sitting down after having served food to the last guest. As Zorori pulled out a seat to sit down, he caught a glance of who it was sitting across the table from him and stopped. Was that...

"Ender?" The squirrel looked up at him from across the table. Without his hat and cape he actually looked pretty normal, save for that tuft of wild fur that had caught the fox's eye earlier. Zorori quickly took his seat across from him. "What are _you_ doing here?" The squirrel gave Zorori that famous grin of his before answering. This one looked almost genuine, but there was still a hint of his performer's touch in it.

"What am _I_ doing here?" He motioned to himself and gave a small comedic gesture, as if surprised that he had asked. "I'm a traveler sir, I'm staying here." His grin widened as he leaned forward a little. "The question is, what on earth are _you_ doing here?" Zorori looked at him for a second, then started laughing. He couldn't help it, it was just something about the way he had asked.

"Us?" he chuckled, motioning to him and the twins. "We have a tendency to travel a lot." He leaned back in the chair a little, glancing over at Ender once he had gotten comfortable. Ender had an intrigued look on his face. He sat back in his chair, placing his elbows on the table as he spoke.

"Really?" he asked, picking up his chopsticks." I travel mainly for business reasons, but I'm curious. Why are _you_ traveling?" The squirrel picked up one or two pieces of potato and beef and started eating. In contrast to his polite manner of talking, Ender seemed to have a sort of aggressive way of eating. It certainly didn't take away from his professional appearance, but it certainly wasn't what the fox had expected.

"Well," Zorori said, taking his eyes off the squirrel and snapping apart his chopsticks, "I-" "_However_," Ender said, quickly swallowing and interrupting the fox, "first things first." The squirrel cleared his throat. I don't believe that I ever got your name sir." Zorori shoved a small slice of beef in his mouth and started chewing.

"Name?" he asked through a full mouth. He chewed a little more, then swallowed before answering. "The name is Zorori." Ender raised an eyebrow for a short moment.

"Zorori, eh?" Zorori stopped for a moment. Was it possible that this man had heard of them on his... Ender reached across the table, holding his paw out for the fox in a friendly gesture. "Well then Zorori, it's a pleasure to meet you." Zorori looked at his paw for a moment before hurriedly taking it to avoid an awkward moment. The fox smiled back at him as he shook, half out of appreciation, and half out of nervous relief.

"Same to you." They shook for a few moments before Zorori noticed that Ishishi, Noshishi, and Jack had all stopped eating as the two of them had reached across the table. The fox quickly sat back down, as Ender apologized for having interrupted their supper. As the two of them got back to eating, Ender looked back over at Zorori, chopsticks in paw.

"So," he said as he picked up another piece of beef, "why_ are_ you traveling?" He put the food in his mouth as he waited. Zorori put his chopsticks down and opened his mouth to speak, but Ishishi got there first.

"Sensei here is on a journey." He shoved some food into his mouth as his brother nodded besides him.

"Yep," the boar eagerly agreed. "He's trying to-" Zorori gave him a soft kick in the leg to silence him. Noshishi looked over at him for a moment, and understood as the fox slowly shook his head. With a small nervous laugh, the fox turned to face the squirrel again, who had a questioning look on his face.

"A journey?"

Zorori let out a small chuckle in response, placing his paw on the back of his head as he strained his mind in an attempt to come up with an acceptable response.

"Y-yeah," he said, glancing towards the doorway, "a journey." He twiddled his thumbs as he thought. The table was silent for a moment before he cleared his throat. "I-it's more of a personal journey though." Ender sat silent for a moment before nodding and giving a small smile.

"I think I can respect that." He went back to eating without much of a second thought.

Zorori looked at him for a moment before getting back to his own meal. Seeing Ender here wasn't exactly something he had expected. His eyes looked over the squirrel again as he popped a piece of potato in his mouth and started chewing. With a small grin, he glanced over towards the boars, who were enjoying their little feast. At least with Ender here, it would make things a lot easier. Instead of having to trek all the way down to the square every day they could most likely just have their magic lessons here. His grin grew wider as he thought about it.

They'd start learning tomorrow. Oh how he couldn't wait until tomorrow...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Zorori panted, the torn leg of his pants trailing behind him as he ran as fast as he could, adrenaline carrying him down the street, buildings flying by left and right as he darted down the endless lane. Neither Ishishi nor Noshishi were anywhere in sight. It was almost as if they had never existed. His only support had completely vanished from his world. Panic filled his body, from the tip of his ears to the end of his tail, and it drove him onwards. Sweat made it's way through his ragged wet fur, drenched from perspiration, dripping onto the ground as he staggered onwards, struggling to keep going. He'd been running for the longest time. He didn't know how long it had been since he'd started fleeing, whether it be minutes, hours, days, or weeks. All he knew was that the more he ran, the more he felt like he wouldn't make it, like he wouldn't escape from whatever it was he was running from.

He tried to think, tried to get this fear to manifest itself in some sort of visible form in his head, get some idea of what it was he was trying to get away from. He could imagine the buildings fading away, and in their place was an endlessly expanding face. It had no distinctive details, no way to tell who it was; the only thing he could spot on it was a mask, and for some reason, that filled him with dread, making it's way all the way down to his bones. And to make matters worse, the face started laughing maniacally, a horrible laugh that sounded insane, like the creature it was coming from was both crazy and deranged. Zorori couldn't help but cringe at it, and in a weak attempt to keep it out, held down his ears as he went onwards.

The fox kept running, trying his best to keep his eyes from closing. Fatigue was starting to take hold of him. He wanted to stop, just stumble and fall onto the ground. He wanted to just lay down and never get up. And yet, somehow he knew that no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to stop. His feet would forever be carrying him forward, his body gripped with this nameless fear. Forever a prisoner of himself, forever tortured by it... Forever... Forever...

Forever...

The fox jerked forwards, pushing himself into an upright position with a small shriek, glancing about nervously as if afraid that the darkness would come out of nowhere to claim him. He was still on his nerve's end. It took him a moment to realize that it had all been a dream. Well, more like a nightmare. Either way though, it wasn't real, all just a figment of his imagination. With a small sigh of relief, he started to take stock of his surroundings. He was still in his bed in the upper floor of the inn, safe in the room that Jack had lent them to stay in for the time being. His fur was drenched with cold sweat, and the area in the bed where he had been lying was just as soaked as he was. He peeled a leg of his trousers off of his fur, then let it fall back into place.

His ear twitched as he caught the sound of a soft snore coming from the other side of the room. Glancing over, a small smile crossed his face. Both of the twins were still sound asleep, sprawled out over the other bed as if they had been rolling around in their sleep. It didn't exactly surprise him. They did have a tendency to do that, so it was only natural that when they finally had beds to sleep in one of them would wake up half on the floor. Zorori turned towards the window, his eyes met by the sight of a freshly born dawn, tendrils of light just starting to trickle down the streets and through the curtains. He looked back over at the twins for a moment. It was far to early to wake them up. The fox made his way over to the edge of his bed and quietly pulled his pants on. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. The least he could do before the day started would be to clean himself up a little. It wasn't something he usually did, but after a night of sweating like _that_, it was probably a pretty good idea. Carrying his shirt, he opened the door to their room as silently as he could.

He looked down the hall. There had to be a bath or something somewhere around here. Zorori made a right and headed further down the hall. Opening the doors as he went, the two doors on either side turned out simply to be extra rooms, probably ones that Jack kept open for other travelers. The fox made a right, turning at the small bend at the end of the hall. On the right, a door had been left ajar. Pushing it open, Zorori smiled. There it was; this was what he had been looking for.

Flicking on the lights and grabbing a towel off the small rack standing to the side of the entrance, Zorori stepped inside, closing the door behind him. The fox undressed, hanging his towel off to the side. He made his way into the bathing area, closing the door behind him, and filling up the bowl inside with water. As soon as it was full, he turned on the hot water and started filling up the bath. The fox wet the soap, then took a seat on the small stool inside, quickly lathering up. As the bath reached near full, the fox leaned over and turned the water off, then picked up the bowl and poured the water over himself, washing off the soap. Once he was sure that he was clean, the fox stepped into the bath, and lay back, relaxing in the warmth.

After the nightmare he had had, the heat did him good, and he could feel his tense muscles starting to relax. It felt absolutely wonderful. He lay there for a few minutes, soaking in the warmth. Then a grin slowly made its way across his face. Today was the day; today was finally the day.

The fox's grin grew wider as he slid a little further into the bath.

Today was the day they would finally get started on their magic lessons.

* * *

Noshishi slowly became aware of the fact that he was no longer asleep. As he came awake, his senses began to work one at a time. He could feel himself in the bed; he could hear the morning breeze making it's way through the open window; he could smell the distinctive scent of the blankets that he had wrapped around his body; and he could taste the dryness of his mouth after the long night. He kept his eyes closed though; the boar still felt sleepy. From what he knew it felt like he had been awake all night long, and all he wanted to get was a little bit of rest. The boar lay his head back down and made an attempt to get back to sleep.

He let out a small sigh and started to settle back down into the covers, only to feel his brother roll over, disturbing him. He only hoped that he wasn't... He heard his Ishishi yawn. Yep, he was... There was a small jerk as the boar hopped off the bed and down to the floor, the mattress bouncing up and down for a couple of moments afterward. Noshishi groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers up to his face in a desperate attempt to shut out his brother. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't going to happen. A few seconds later and he had faceplanted on the floor.

Noshishi had had no idea just how close to the edge of the bed he'd gotten during the night. Apparently he'd managed to make his way over to the corner of the bed in his sleep. Lucky him. As the boar slowly picked himself up off of the ground, he heard a crudely muffled snicker coming from the direction of his brother. Glaring daggers back at him, he laid back up against the leg of the bed, closing his eyes again. Just a little bit of rest, that was all he wanted. As his brother quietly went around and got himself dressed, Noshishi relaxed a little. Maybe he would be able to get some sleep after all. A smile started making its way across his face.

He was a few minutes into his small nap and just nodding off when he felt a prod coming from his right. Frowning, he swatted at it absentmindedly in an attempt to get rid of whatever was pestering him. Hitting nothing, he went back to his little rest, only to be disturbed a few seconds later by the same prod in the arm. Noshishi looked up towards where his assumed his brother was. "What?" he growled in an annoyed tone. His lidded eyes made their way down to the vest he was holding out. He already had his on and had gone out of the way to get Noshishi his.

With a small grunt, the boar took it and watched as his brother started towards the door. He stopped as he reached for the doorknob, looking back over his shoulder at his brother. "You coming?" Noshishi met his eyes for a moment before letting out a sigh. He leaned forward and slid his vest on before pushing himself into a standing position. He headed towards his brother with his eyes towards the ground. Ishishi had a bit of a grin on his face as he placed his hand on his brother's back. "Come on, I'm sure all you need is something to eat." He pulled open the door, letting Noshishi pass before he closing it behind them.

Noshishi looked at him and gave him a weak smile in return. "Yeah," he said, shaking his head to try and make some of the sleepiness go away, "you're probably ri..." The smell hit the boar like a freight train hitting a small wooden crate, and it instantly had his full attention. As he breathed in, closing his eyes and inhaling with all his being, the scent filled his head. The wonderful, flavorful, fabulous smell of... "Food!" With his tongue lolling out of his mouth, Noshishi flew forward, practically turned on a dime at the top of the stairs, then sped down them like he was on fire.

Ishishi stood there for a moment after his brother had gone down the stairs. He took one more sniff of the smell in the air before quietly shuffling towards the stairs. "Figures," he said to himself as a grin spread over his face. "He's always like that when he's hungry." And without another thought he headed down the stairs.

Heading for the kitchen, Ishishi stopped for a moment, listening to the sound of his brother in the back room, already chowing down on what was most likely breakfast. Taking a deep whiff, he had to admit, it smelled pretty tasty. As he let his feet carry him towards the smell, he wondered what Jack had cooked up for today.

He pushed open the door to the back room and was greeted by the sight of his brother inhaling the rice in the bowl in front of him, and his hands were flashing too and fro as he alternated between the two other dishes on his left and right. Letting out a chuckle, the boar made his way over to the table and pulled out a chair opposite his brother, and next to Ender. As he took his seat, the squirrel turned towards him and gave him a polite nod, putting down his chopsticks for a moment, as he said hello.

"Well, good morning."

Ishishi nodded back. "Mornin'." He quickly looked the squirrel over. It was interesting to see how different he looked in the morning. His headfur was just as messy as ever, but without his hat on top it simply looked like an incredibly bad case of bedfur. The same could almost be said about his tail, which curled up a little as he leaned forward to take a bite; it looked like the fur on it was sticking up in every direction imaginable. Based on the way he was dressed, the boar could take a guess that the costume that he had had on while preforming wasn't his usual attire. He was still wearing his scarf and badge, but underneath it he wore a pale-green t-shirt and a pair of plain blue pants. It looked like he'd left his shoes in his room; his bare footpaws tapped softly against the floor as he ate.

Ishishi watched him for a moment, listening to the rhythm being tapped out on the floor. His eyes lingered on the squirrel for a moment as he turned to talk to the cook. "Hey Jack, you mind getti—" The boar froze as his eyes fell upon the figure in the kitchen. Standing there, a ladle in paw, gently stirring the water in the pot in front of him, was Zorori. The fox was humming softly to himself with his eyes closed, relaxed as he worked on cooking the food. He probably hadn't heard him.

The sight was definitely something that the boars didn't see every day. Their sensei hardly ever really cooked, other than maybe just heating up some potatoes or something. "Sensei?" Ishishi asked, leaning towards him a little.

"Hmm?" The fox's ears perked up as he opened his eyes, glancing around to see where the voice came from.

Ishishi waved in his direction, and the foxes eyes fell upon him. "Sensei, do you think I could get some food." A smile spread across his face as he heard this.

"Yeah," he said, "just give me a second." Zorori let go of the ladle as he made his way over to the open shelves on the other side of the kitchen, where most of the eatery was stacked up in one way or another. Grabbing a simple bowl off the shelf, and being careful not to knock anything over in the process, he made his way back towards the pot. As the fox took a hold of the ladle and stirred it around a bit, to be sure that it was all good and proper, Ishishi took a deep breath, the scent of the food flooding his head. It was fantastic.

The boar watched as his sensei pulled the ladle out of the pot, filled with pieces of fish, and in one swift movement, dumped all of it into the bowl he was holding. In yet another second he was pouring rice from another one of the nearby pots into the same bowl. He leaned back and grabbed a pair of chopsticks off the counter before making his way over to Ishishi and gingerly dropping the bowl in front of him.

As the fox turned to head back to the kitchen, Ishishi picked up his chopsticks and took another sniff. It smelled heavenly, and the way that Zorori had gotten it all to him spoke plenty itself. The question was though, would it be good? He picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks and popped it in his mouth, his eyes watering as he did. It was absolutely amazing! The boar started shoveling down his meal. How had the fox managed to keep this talent a secret for so long?

It only took a few minutes after that for the two twins to finish their meal, and it was only then that a second question came to Ishishi. Why was he doing this in the first place? What was he hoping to gain? As the fox made his way towards the table, the boar looked him over, trying to figure it out. Instead of an answer though, he simply got a cheery greeting from his sensei.

"You enjoy that you two?" He asked, looking back and forth between the boars. Both nodded honestly. The fox leaned forward a little towards Ender, who was just finishing up his meal. "And how about you?" The squirrel quickly swallowed and wiped his mouth before giving a small sigh of satisfaction.

"Fantastic sir. I am _very_ glad you decided to cook today." Zorori smiled at the compliment. Somehow Ishishi could tell that it wasn't exactly genuine.

"I had to find _some_ way to repay you for agreeing to teach us," Zorori said.

That was it! He was brown-nosing him, buttering him up, all the better to get him to teach them more. That was _much _more like the sensei he knew than Zorori just _deciding_ to cook.

The fox looked back and forth between the boars as he spoke. "Hope you're both ready for our first lesson today," he said.

"Speaking of lessons," Ender said, standing up and stretching from his ears to the end of his tail, "why don't we head upstairs and get started." He straightened out and turned towards the doorway. "After all, there's no time like the present, is there?"

Zorori's ears perked up immediately at the prospect. "Yes," he said, pushing the twins towards the door, "let's!"

'Finally,' he thought, 'this is it.'

'It's time...'


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

There was a low, drawn out squeal as the door swung open. Before them lay the room that Ender was staying in, the sunlight from outside splashing over it. Ishishi and Noshishi both entered the room, glancing about, their Sensei making his way in shortly afterwards. The room itself wasn't that unlike the one that Zorori and the twins were staying in, across the hall from him. The difference was that this room actually looked lived in.

There were props and clothes strewn all over the floor, and a bag of Ender's lay against the wall; a pair of shorts, a wand, and some posters advertising himself were hanging out of it, and a pair of socks that looked virtually new were on the ground beside it. In the left-hand corner sat a small wooden table, with what it seemed were some of the squirrel's personal belongings spread out over it: an old looking scroll tied up rather hastily with a ragged piece of ribbon, a pen and some paper with notes scribbled on them, and a small, locked, wooden box. The fox's eyes lingered on the box for a moment. The intricate carvings that lined its sides seemed to gently play with his vision for a moment before he moved on.

The bed was the only thing in the room that wasn't messy. Compared to the rest of the room, it was practically immaculate. Judging by the state of the carpet near the table, it was rather obvious why. He most likely stayed up late during the night to get things done for his shows, and apparently, he most likely fell asleep there too. The sound of the squirrel shuffling about drew him out of his thoughts, and he looked over to see Ender digging through a small pile of stuff next to his bed. After a few moments, an "Aha!" left his mouth as he pulled a small folded piece of paper out of the pile. The squirrel unfolded it, glanced over it, murmured something to himself, then folded it back up and put it back in the pile. He made his way over to the table in the corner and grabbed a few blank sheets and the pen. Then he ran back to the pile beside his bed and pulled out a small pad.

"There we go," he said, making his way back over to the fox. "Come on he said, motioning to him and the twins, "why don't we get started." Ender made his way into the center of his room and cleared a space big enough for the four of them to sit in a circle. The squirrel sat down, and within a few seconds, the twins were sitting next to him, and Zorori across from him. He gave them his wooden smile as he picked up a blank piece of paper and put it down on top of the pad in front of all of them. Pulling out the pen, the squirrel drew five circles on the paper, laying them out so each sat at one point of a pentagon. He connected each to the next and completed the shape.

Zorori leaned forwards a little, Curious. What was this fellow going to be telling them that he needed such a diagram to explain. Ender leaned back, finished. Zorori's ear twitched as he waited for the squirrel to start talking. Was he going to..."Before I teach you how to preform any magic, I must explain the basic essences that magic uses draw their power from." He was... The fox crossed his arms and smirked. This was going to be interesting...

"There are five different essences that encompass the different areas of life." The squirrel leaned forwards and drew a spiral in the circle on top of the pentagon. "Laughter..." He drew a serrated blade in the next one. "War..." A tear came next. "Sadness..." Then a flower. "Peace..." And last but not least, a shining diamond. "And finally, Creation." He looked up after finishing filling in the circles. "Keep in mind though that the essences aren't usually represented by symbols. I'm just doing this to make it easier to explain." Ishishi and Noshishi both nodded in response.

"Of course," Ishishi said, "that makes sense." Ender gave the boar his wooden grin and patted him on the back, then settled back down to continue.

"Now then," he said, clearing his throat. "Each essence draws its power from different things in life and nature." He took the pen and pointed to the spiral. "Laughter is made up of all the good things in life: the evenings spent with friends laughing out in the fields, dancing in the rain, and rejoicing after a wonderful event. It's blissful noise filling the air." He pointed to the blade next. "War is anger, death, and rage. It's the destruction found in murders and serial killers, and the violence and corruption behind everything wrong with the world."

The squirrel paused for a moment after saying the last part of that sentence, taking a moment before continuing on to the next. He moved the pen from the blade to the tear. "Sadness is made up of the disappointments and losses one has in life, whether of something, or of someone." Moving the pen to the next symbol, he continued. "Peace is made of the quiet stillness of nature, and the serene feeling of silence felt when no one else is around. It is simple balance between forces." Finally, he pointed to the diamond at the end of the Pentagon. "And last but not least, Creation is the birth of life, inspiration and ideas. It's the muse that gives the artist the idea for his masterpiece, and the bringing of something new into the world."

Zorori couldn't help but have a smug grin on his face as he heard the last description. If there was anything he knew about, it was creating things. It was one of the things he was best at. He looked up as he started daydreaming a little, ignoring the fact that Ender was nowhere near done with his explanation. Perhaps he would be using magic through the essence of Creation. He could just imagine, holding his paw out, maybe saying a few words, and presto, before him stood a completed mecha, ready to do whatever he told it to. He couldn't wait.

The sound of Ender tapping his paw on the paper drew him out of his thoughts. The squirrel was watching the fox as his head tilted back, imagining what he'd be able to do. Zorori quickly corrected himself, sitting up straight and watching Ender carefully. It was only then that the squirrel made to move on.

"Now then," he said, keeping his eyes on the fox as he spoke, "in order to help keep balance between them, each essence has two opposites." Ender took the pen and pointed it at the laughter essence, slowly making his way around the circle from there. "The opposites of Laughter are Sadness and Peace. The opposites of War are Creation and Peace. The opposites of Sadness are Laughter and Creation. The opposites of Peace are Laughter and War. And finally, the opposites of Creation are War and Sadness." The squirrel uncapped the pen and drew lines from each essence to the two essences opposite them on the pentagon, forming a star in the middle to show their relations. He looked up at the two boars, glancing back and forth between them. "Does that make sense?" Both simply nodded, keeping quiet in the hope that he'd move on quickly. Zorori simply sat there listening and taking it all in.

"Now," Ender went on, "despite the fact that each essence has its opposites, it isn't rare to see two or more essences working in harmony with each other to help keep balance in the world, even if both of them are complete opposites. For example, say a volcano is erupting and burning down a forest, but then after the lava cools, new brush and new life springs forth from the destruction." He adjusted his position to get more comfortable while talking, sitting back and crossing his legs as he faced the three in front of him. "The cooperation between the different essences are what allow magic to be applied to such a broad spectrum of situations, and allow it to be used in such a wide range of ways."

Smiling and standing up, the squirrel picked up the paper and handed it over to Zorori. "You might wanna keep that," he said, getting to work gathering a few more things around the room as soon as the fox took it. Zorori looked at it for a moment before folding it up and putting it into his pocket. When he looked back up, Ender had several small notepads in his hand, and a few pencils. He handed one of each to Zorori, then passed the others out to Ishishi and Noshishi.

"So," he said, taking a step back and looking them over, "here's what I want you to do." As he spoke he turned to face the window in his room, looking out at the world beyond it. "I want you to head out into town, and I want each of you to find an example of an event that that would give power to each essence." He turned and looked them over again, holding up his paw as if to drive home the point. "That's five for each of you. You cannot share, and..." The squirrel leaned in a little closer to make sure that all three of them understood him. "...you cannot cheat."

Zorori quickly glanced between the two boars, then looked back up at Ender and smiled, taking a few steps towards him. "Don't worry," he said, swinging his arm around Ender's shoulder in the friendliest gesture that the fox could think of, "we won't." He backed up a little, looking over the squirrel and giving him a thumbs up before jogging over to the door, taking the handle in his paw and slipping his body around the wooden door. "Come on you two," he said, motioning to the twins. He smiled a little, a mischievous look in his eyes as he spoke, one that Ishishi and Noshishi recognize all too well. "Let's go have some fun." Without another word, he darted down the hallway. Ishishi and Noshishi followed, giggling a little as they anticipated the fun that they'd be having.

* * *

Zorori stuck his head around the corner, his straw hat casting a small shadow over his face as he gazed back and forth, looking at the happenings in the square. "Hmm..." He put a paw up to his chin as he thought, then pulled back into the alleyway, plopping himself down and crossing his legs as he sat across from Ishishi and Noshishi.

The younger boar leaned forwards a little. "Sensei, what kind of pranks are we going to be pulling today?" The fox glanced over at him, a small grin crossing his face. It was small enough that it could almost be seen as a smirk.

"Today," he said, looking back out at the square. "...Today we'll be pulling small pranks. Nothing too big."

Ishishi looked at him with a questioning look. "Huh, small pranks? Why small? Why not go big like we usually do?" Zorori's tongue protruded from the left corner of his mouth as his eyes focused on something happening in the square. He quickly jotted something down on his pad with his pencil, then looked up at Ishishi.

"Because," He said, putting his pad down, "Today we're not simply doing it for fun. Today we're only doing it to change some of the things that we'll see happening in town. That way, we'll actually be able to observe what we need to."

Noshishi tilted his head a little. This didn't seem entirely like the Zorori they knew. He wasn't one to typically follow instructions. "So," he asked, "we're actually going to be doing the exercise that Ender told us to do?" Zorori only smiled at him, a little amused by the question.

"What," he replied, "you didn't think I'd just blow all of this off, did you? I want to learn how to use magic, and if this is how we start, then this is what we're gonna do." The two boars looked at each other and smiled, understanding where their Sensei was coming from.

The two of them faced him with a determined look on their faces. "Okay," they said, eager to impress Zorori by doing as well as they possibly could. The fox chuckled a little. The two of them always were eager to please.

He turned to look at the square again. If there was anything they could be sure of, it was that the town square was the epicenter of many of the town's events. If they were looking for anything, they could probably expect to find it around here. "Alright you two," he said, keeping his eyes on the square, "I want you two to head on out into the town and see what you can find. Remember, we need one for each essence." He stood up and took a step into the sunshine, glancing back at the two boars, who were both sticking their heads out of the alleyway to look about.

The fox pulled three small devices out of his pocket and handed one to each of the twins. They were watches, rough models, but watches. Zorori strapped his on to his wrist, fiddling with the single dial on it a little. "I made these from what scraps I could gather from around the room and Jack's kitchen. They should all work just fine." He helped Ishishi and Noshishi get theirs on and adjusted to match his. All of them were set at noon. "We'll meet back here at three-thirty." He took a few steps towards away from them, then turned to face them again. "I'll see you guys later, and don't forget." Without another word, he darted off and disappeared into an alleyway on the opposite side of the square.

As Zorori slipped between small groups of people, a lingering thought made its way into his mind. Would those two be okay on their own? He shook his head a little, tossing the worry aside. What was he thinking? Of course they'd be okay. They managed to handle themselves just fine when they'd gone on their little errand to get him his cream puff... despite the fact that they never actually got him a cream puff... With a grin, he turned down a corner at the end of the alleyway, finding himself on a small street.

He couldn't wait to hear what they'd been up to when they got back together...


End file.
